| Billionaires in Industries | ||
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IT, of course. But promoters of pharmaceutical companies are fast catching upt BS
Research Bureau But don't lose heart if you can't distinguish between a bit and a byte - the pharmaceutical sector is in fast forward mode, rapidly closing the gap in the number of billionaires manufactured in its labs, while the "diversified" category of business groups is also becoming a major wealth creating force. The number of IT billionaires this year remained at 24 - fully 13 of them being minor promoters of one company, Infosys Technologies. This would be the moment to pause and take one's topi off to this amazing company that has given birth to so many billionaires and realised so many dreams. IT billionaires were, at the last count, sitting pretty on Rs 31,630 crore worth of assets at the end of July this year. But the solid numbers belie the queasy feeling in the stomachs of all IT billionaires - they have lost Rs 15,111 crore since last December, bringing down their share in the BS Billionaire Club from 42.9 per cent to 26.2 per cent. How have the mighty fallen. The 13 Infosys shareholders, whose wealth aggregated Rs 5,490 crore, lost Rs 1,532 crore. B Ramalinga Raju (net worth of Rs 1,333 crore) lost Rs 600 crore and Shiv Nadar & associates (with wealth worth Rs 4,298 crore) lost Rs 277 crore. Our deepest sympathies on behalf of the Billionaire Club to these unfortunate people. In sharp
contrast, the pharmaceutical industry billionaires have discovered
the magic potion that grows their money fast. Twenty pharma billionaires
increased their wealth by Rs 6,578 crore to a cool Rs 20,224 crore,
accounting for 16.7 per cent of the total wealth of the club. The
major boost for pharmaceutical stocks came from the investments in
research and development activities by Indian companies. In the pharmaceutical sector, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh (net worth Rs 5,086 crore) of Ranbaxy, Dilip Shanghvi (Rs 3,027 crore) of Sun Pharmaceuticals, K Anji Reddy (Rs 2,132 crore) of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Y K Hamied of Cipla (Rs 2,083 crore), H F Khorakiwala (Rs 1,331 crore) of Wockhardt and Pankaj R Patel (Rs 1,297 crore) of Cadila Healthcare are leading members of the Billionaire Club. But diversification may be your best bet to that billion. The net worth of promoters with diversified business activities moved up by over Rs 9,096 crore to Rs 32,289 crore. The major benefits came to promoters who have diversified into cement, steel and shipping. B N Kalyani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, B K Birla and Anil Agarwal (Sterlite) were major gainers in the rich list. The Ambanis, the richest Indians in the BS Billionaires Club, head this segment, with a net worth of Rs 23,588 crore followed by Kumar Mangalam Birla (Rs 2,737 crore), Hindujas (Rs 1,813 crore), Anil Agarwal (Rs 1,402 crore), and B N Kalyani (Rs 1,037 crore). The rest are relatively small, the prominent among them being L M Thapar (Rs 558 crore), L N Bangur (Rs 431 crore), B K Birla (Rs 462 crore) and Rajan Raheja (Rs 393 crore). The automobile billionaires haven't done badly either.They increased their wealth by Rs 1,976 crore to Rs 7,011 crore. Abhay Firodia (Rs 178 crore) and Deepak Singhania (Rs 122 crore) were new entrants in the list. Venu Srinivasan and Suresh Krishna of TVS Motors were the second biggest gainers in this segment. Their wealth increased by Rs 581 crore to Rs 1,498 crore. Rahul Bajaj was richer by Rs 636 crore to Rs 2,101 crore, while Brijmohan Lall Munjal was richer by Rs 258 crore to Rs 1,797 crore. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) billionaires too had a rollicking time, with nine of them adding Rs 1,864 crore to their net worth. Karsanbhai Patel was richer by 746 crore to Rs 2,169 crore. V C Burman and family added Rs 418 crore this year to Rs 1,408 crore. The three promoters of Asian Paints - Ashwin Choksi, Ashwin Dani and Ajay Vakil - did well last year, increasing their net worth by Rs 342 crore to Rs 1,196 crore. Adi Godrej of the Godrej group, Harsh Chandrahas Mariwala of Marico Industries, and the Parekh Bothers of Pidilite Industries also raked in the moolah in 2003. Entertaining people, however, seems to be a tough route to those billions. The entertainment industry is losing wealth with the number of billionaires declining to three from five last year. Zee chairman Subhash Chandra towers over this gathering with a net worth of Rs 2,566 crore. He is followed by Subrata Roy of Sahara Media with a net worth of Rs 333 crore. Steel magnates are back in the reckoning, with soaring steel prices bolstering the wealth of steel billionaires (see box "Back with a bang"). Thank you, China. Other
categories that figure in this list include billionaires with interests
in hotels, finance, trading, construction, diamond and jewellery,
liquor, services and telecom. Sunil Mittal, fifth in the list, is
richer by Rs 2,945 crore to Rs 5,000 crore. The chairman and CEO of
East India Hotels (EIH), P R S Oberoi, is worth Rs 458 crore. Textile billionaires too are back in fashion. The net worth of textile billionaires increased by Rs 870 crore to Rs 2,240 crore. Sanjay Lalbhai topped the textile list with a net worth of Rs 440 crore, up Rs 200 crore this year. Gopiram Goenka and Balkrishna Goenka of the the Welspun group are richer by Rs 163 crore at Rs 279 crore. At the
end of that long list, the only advice we can give the budding billionaire
is that there's no particular sector that gives one a head start in
making it to this exclusive club - all you have to do is work for
it. And have a bit of luck on your side, of course.
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